November 2002
In Memory of my Beloved Father
CARLOS KUAN
(August 18, 1916 - November 16, 2002)
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October 2002
GIANTS fever is here. Can they win this time and beat the mighty Anaheim Angels?
The last time the GIANTS were in the World Series was in 1989 against the Oakland A's where they were defeated in 4 games in the interrupted Earthquake series.
With Giants manager Dusty Baker after defeating the Angels in SF.
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September 2002
The last time I visited Hawaii was also in the month of September in '97 on a bicycling
trip with my friends in the beautiful island of Maui.
Our group of 13 adventurous riders
cycle around the beautiful island of Hawaii, the Big Island, starting and ending in Kona.
At Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii
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July 2002
July is one of my favorite months of the
year - Summer is finally here. July means las Fiestas de San Fermin from
July 7-14 in Pamplona, Spain. July is also when the Tour de France, the most grueling sport event in the world, takes place in this famous 3 weeks bicycle race around France.
How did I spent my 2002 Summer?
With friends I met at the Plaza de Toros in Pamplona, Spain. --- At Col de Port, in the Pyrenees Mountains, France.
Las Fiestas de San Fermin, in Pamplona, Spain is celebrated every year from July 7-14. During this time, every morning at 8 am a firework, El Chupinazo announces the Encierro, the running of the bulls to the plaza de toros. The party begins early in the morning and continues until the next day when the whole thing starts all over again for 7 straight days. Uuuupa!
The Tour de France is the most grueling sport event in the world. A 3 weeks bicycle race throughout France is an event that attracts the best riders and cyclist fans from all over the world. Lance Armstrong won the 89th edition of the 2002 Tour for a fourth consecutive victory.
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May 2002
Spring is here and daylight savings is upon us again. On beautiful sunny days, there is not a better bargain in San Francisco than to just go to the ballpark on a weekday while everyone is at work and enjoy a SF Giants baseball game. If you are by yourself, single tickets can be purchased at the last minute from people selling and trying to get rid of them -if you wait until the first and second inning has started tickets can be bought at half or one third of the price from desperate sellers -the name of the game is be patient and courteous when you bargain.
Pacific Bell Park - Home of the SF Giants on a nice Wednesday afternoon.
I was hoping to buy a bleacher seat, those seats way out there by
center field but it was all sold out. Don't people work on Wednesday in
SF??? Everyone has the same idea, bring your shades and newspaper or
something to read and catch some sun rays and get a tan while enjoying a
nice cold beer. A dealer, who wanted some "hot dog money for lunch"
as he put it, sold me at ticket for six dollars for a reserved upper row
seat behind home plate -best deal in town for a seat with a nice
view. Giants lost to the Braves 5-4 on this occasion.
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March 2002
Dear
friends,
As of March 2002, I have officially retired and I no longer
work at ea consulting.
After working for 3 years at ea consulting, 14 years
at Apple Computer and
3 years at Bechtel
and having had many other odd jobs prior to that during my college years, I
have finally decided to hang it up. It has been always a goal of mine
to retire at 45, and I am glad that I finally have achieve it. It was a
long but rewarding journey.
For those of you who have known abut my
intentions, thanks for all the encouragement, comments and well wishes
-a lot of you brought smiles and sometimes tears to my eyes:
"George, Take the money and run"
"... more time for bike training, no
one will be able to keep up with you on the hills"
"You're young to retire, enjoy it!"
For now, I am
planning to do some things that I have been putting off for a while. Do
some fixing in the house; try to catch up with some of the technical Mac
stuff on MacOS X and related software that I have not had a chance to
learn; use some of my travel mileage; spend more time with my elderly
parents; and of course get back on my bike again and start training for
this Fall for my Kona, Hawaii bike trip.
A lot of you were curious as to what my days are
like now.
Well, I do what most retired people do. You will too one day:
I
wake up a little later than usual, have my coffee, have a little breakfast,
read the newspaper, turn on the radio, listen to the news and traffic
reports, and say to myself: "God, I am glad I don't have to drive into
that big traffic mess!"
Well keep in touch, I will try to update my site more
frequently now that I have more time.
...and always remember:
"When you think you have enough -retire!"
"Spend more time with your family and friends"
"Buy Low (on the rumors), Sell High (on the news)"
"Everything is within walking distance, as long as you got the time"
... and most importantly:
"Sometimes in life, you don't really get to do what you want to do...
but it is very important that you really enjoy what you do...
when you retire is different ...you wake up in the morning, and you go to sleep at night...
and in between you can to do whatever you want to do"
Amen.
-George
...this is what you do when you retire
and here is my pep talk for the day...
An American entrepreneur was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village
when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat
were several large yellow fin tuna.
The American complimented the
Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch
them.
The Mexican replied, only a little while.
The American then
asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish?
The Mexican
said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.
The
American then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time?
The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my
children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each
evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full
and busy life, señor."
The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and
could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the
proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you
could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing
boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell
directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You
would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need
to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to the capital
Mexico City, then LA, and eventually NYC where you will run your
expanding enterprise."
The Mexican fisherman asked, "But
señor, how long will this all take?"
To which the American
replied, "10-15 years."
But what then, señor?
The American
laughed and said that's the best part.
When the time is right you
would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and
become very rich, you would make millions.
Millions, señor?
Then what?
The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a
small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little,
play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village
in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your
amigos."
